Nelson Mandela's Reading List
The 5 books that shaped Nelson Mandela — anti-apartheid leader & president.
Read voraciously during 27 years of imprisonment and emerged to lead South Africa toward reconciliation.
Influential Books
Long Walk to Freedom
Nelson Mandela(1994)
Mandela's autobiography — 27 years in prison and the triumph of reconciliation over revenge.
Invictus
William Ernest Henley(1888)
The poem Mandela recited in prison — "I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul."
The Complete Works of Shakespeare
William Shakespeare(1623)
The "Robben Island Bible" — a smuggled Shakespeare shared among prisoners. Mandela marked passages from Julius Caesar.
Wretched of the Earth
Frantz Fanon(1961)
Fanon's analysis of colonialism influenced Mandela's early militancy before he turned to reconciliation.
An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth
Mahatma Gandhi(1927)
Gandhi's influence on Mandela was immense — both men chose nonviolence as a strategy and a moral stance.